In Pursuit
by Candyjackr
Summary: Fox and his team return from a false alarm, but little do they know that this was not accidental. A plan of assault is initiated, and his teammates are being hunted down individually... when Fox is the last one standing, what could he do...?
1. False Alarm

This is my first fanfic, based on Starfox. I hope this doesn't suck.

I do not own Starfox, Nintendo, and whatever else you might think up of.

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The Starfox Team had just returned from their previous mission, a rather simple one compared to the kind of missions they ordinarily had to take; in fact, there was no work to be done at all. They had been pulled out of bed for an emergency assembly, and promptly left for space, still yawning. An alarm had been given that Star Wolf was planning to hijack the Lylat system, or something absurd like that. Irritated was one word that could describe the team; furious was the next. Within moments of breaking free of Corneria's atmosphere, they began to discuss their battle tactics, when none other than Peppy Hare appeared on the dashboard of each of their Arwings.

"What are you all doing..? It's 3 in the morning…" Peppy coughed, rubbing his eyes as he resisted a yawn.

Fox asked the question that was also coursing through his teammate's minds: "What are you talking about? You're the one who sent us to stop Star Wolf!"

Peppy stared in blank confusion. It was obvious that Peppy had no knowledge of ever sending the team out.

"You… you told us that Star Wolf was attempting to attack the Lylat system!"

Peppy scratched his head, and replied, "I'm sorry, but… I don't know what in the world you're all talking about!" It was clear that Peppy didn't send them out at all; he wasn't one to lie, especially to his fellow teammates. But, if Peppy didn't send them on this 'emergency' mission, who did?

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Falco could not restrain his confused irritation; he loved his sleep. "You called each one of us on our communicators! This isn't the best damn joke, y'know…"

The argument was going nowhere. As much as Peppy knew, they might as well have all had the same exact dream. To the Star Fox team, there was nothing they wanted more was to return to their beds and take the rest of the night in peace. So they did just that.

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"That… did not work out."

"_I can see that, fool. Do you see why I don't__…__ let you to plan out our attacks?_"

"Fine! I'm sorry! Anyway, what now?"

"_Capture the hare; the team __will definitely__ attempt to pursue us_."

"Ok… how?"

"_Figure something out, you buffoon! Why would I do any of the work?__ And do not fail me again…_"

"Er, of course sir. Sorry."

"_Go! Now! __Heh__… be__ on guard, Star Fox… enjoy your slumber while you can…_"

On the many screens surrounding him, there were images of a fox, still in uniform, collapsed on his bed…a brilliant blue avian snoozing naked, with his sheets covering half of his body, other half rising and falling with each breath taken… a toad, facedown in piles of textbooks randomly flung around his desk… a blue vixen, sleeping peacefully in her room, clutching a photograph of her beloved Fox… an old hare, propped up against his bed, reading a book while sipping some drink…

"_Peppy Hare, eh…? This ought to be interesting…__" _He chuckled, and after another moment of surveying his prey, spoke_. "PREPARE FOR CAPTURE!"_

Little did the Starfox team know, that soon, the peace would be shattered… pain and suffering would soon be all that they could expect.

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I hope you all enjoy this… I suppose this is nothing compared to all the other writers on . Please review! Give me some advice... please? Thanks :D I'll write more… later?


	2. First Victim

Um, Chapter 2 up?

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"No… no… Peppy..? Who..?"

_Fox McCloud… How I have been waiting for this day…_

Fox felt something cool, something… sharp on his face… He could see nothing, but he felt, heard, smelled, all else.

_This day… I would see your blood on my hands…_

The object was pressing harder… Fox let out a gasp as he felt his a sharp pain on his cheek… a steady stream of warmth was flowing… he then felt a warm, moist object rubbing against his face, coupled with the sound of shallow breathing… something was licking him! Licking his blood… putrid breath was smothering him. Retching, Fox attempted to shove away his captor, until he noticed he could not move; he was chained down! Struggling, the assaulter chuckled.

_Don't…waste your energy… you are mine!_

The sound of a blade rending the air. Cold metal piercing his chest. Fox opened his mouth to howl in pain:

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

Krystal and Falco leapt back in shock, as Fox suddenly catapulted out of his bed, sweating profusely. His headache was pulsing with every rush of blood flowing from his pounding heart. Throat dry from screaming, and completely dehydrated, he groped his bedside desk for a bottle of water; finding it, he quickly drank it all, splashing some all over his face as he shook in panic.

"Oh Fox! Are you all right?" spoke Krystal as she peered down on Fox looking for any signs of injury.

Falco stared at Fox, who was now trying to stand. He sighed, and shoved Fox back in bed. He then left Fox's room, and returned a minute later carrying an unlabeled bottle of something.

"Take these, and get back to sleep…" Falco handed him two white caplets.

Fox looked around, and checked the clock: 3:15 AM, just about 30 minutes after getting back from their false alarm. Popping the pills in his mouth, he noticed that he quickly stopped shaking. Everything was getting darker; was someone dimming the lights? No… His throbbing migraine started fading, and Fox felt immense relief as all of his pain was being relieved. Krystal…Falco… their faces started fading from his view…

"Falco… what are these…?" Did Falco give him some narcotic, or something? However, before he could open his mouth to speak any more, he blacked out and flopped on his bed, snoring.

"Falco, just what _did_ you give him?"

"I dunno… took it once, and it knocked me out. Damn best thing I've ever taken anyway…"

"You _gave_ him something without knowing what it was?!?!"

"Why the hell you screaming at me? He feels better, isn't that the point?!?"

Bickering, they both left the room, leaving behind Fox, who knew nothing, felt nothing, smelled nothing…nothing at all.

_Fox McCloud…be on guard…_

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Peppy just couldn't sleep. Though completely exhausted, especially after telling Krystal and Falco off for disturbing the silence, which was precious when he needed rest, he could not find anything to do but to stare into the walls of his room. There was a spider in the corner… damn that was huge… he'd have to kill it, before it bit off his head or something. Drowsy, he lifted himself up, and hobbled over to the other side of his room. He did not see the book he had left on the ground earlier; he tripped on it, and smashed his face onto the ground. Nose smarting, he attempted to control the blood flowing from his nose, which was splashing red all over the carpet. Looking up, the spider wasn't there anymore. That's strange… it was just there a moment ago… he'd just have to suppose that the force of his clumsy walking had shaken the spider off the wall. Oh well, if it really did bite his head off… at least he'd die happily without too much pain. Shaking his head at such a stupid idea, he clambered back onto his bed, peered into the corner of the room again… and that damned spider reappeared. Whatever. He shut his eyes, ready to attempt sleeping again. Instead of his vision turning dark however, he was blinded by a brilliant light that pierced through his eyelids. Ears erect, his eyes snapped open, to see his computer terminal showing data flowing at an amazing rate. At first, it seemed to be random letters and numbers… but… there… there was a message! Every now and then, he could see the data forming a word as other figures flashed by…. but… he couldn't really see it… any time he saw part of it, something else replaced it. Was the screen repeating the same thing over and over? He squinted, concentrating at what he was attempting to read.

'PEPPY HARE' was the first thing he could distinguish. Now knowing at what point the message appeared at, he focused on paying attention whenever 'PEPPY HARE' reappeared. Random gibberish… random numbers… There!

For only a moment, Peppy saw the entire message. Heart dropping, he waited, attempting to clarify his suspicion. However, after seeing it 5 times, he could be sure his eyes were not playing a trick on him.

'PEPPY HARE BEWARE. BEWARE OF THE NIGHTMARE. BEWARE. BEWARE.' Beginning to panic, adrenaline kicking in, his brain suddenly seemed to process faster. Looking through the jumbled text on screen, he caught flashes of words like 'DEATH', and 'PAIN', and 'BLOOD'. Heart racing, he caught snatches of other words, each bringing more worry and panic with every new word. Suddenly, the text ended: "Yours Truly, END'.

"What?"

The terminal suddenly shut off, plunging Peppy into complete darkness. Eyes still used to brightness, the room was pitch black. He sat, frozen; his senses seemed to be picking up on things he wouldn't notice normally. Was the wind getting colder? What?? Wind??? His ears perked up as he heard a noise. Footsteps? Inside my room? How… no one came in through the door! The footsteps were getting louder… a putrid odor was beginning to float in the air. He dare not move; he _could_ not move! He heard more footsteps… more than 1 set? They were all around him… getting louder and louder… Peppy fumbled with the terminals lamplight, trying to switch it on. He found the switch, and flipped it. The room retained its eerie darkness. No… why now..? Now he heard the intake of breath… and the footsteps stopped. Peppy froze every muscle in his body. He begged his eyes to see… and slowly he could make out the outline of objects in his room. There was his bed. His bookshelf. That book on the ground. The computer in front of him. There was no one else in his room. He stood up, analyzed his surrounding, and sighed. Drinking coffee at night just wasn't the right thing to do. Suddenly, he heard a slight shuffle behind him. He twisted around, but too late. A figure, caped in darkness, plunged a needle into his arm. Everything started fading. The last thing he felt, was the touch of a cold hand wrapping a gag around his mouth as a veil of silence washed over him.

The plan was initiated. The assault was successful.

_Hehehehh__… good job…everyone._

All around the room, figures seemed to sprout out of nowhere. Two of them slid out of under Peppy's bed. One inched his way out of his closet. Another few hopped off of the ceiling, landing professionally on their feet.

"Thanks boss!" The last figure flipped off of the ceiling, landing silently, saluting.

_Come now __Starfox__…let my fun begin…_

The team continued to sleep happily, unknowing of the terror that was so close to them, just a few rooms away…

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Hope it's not bad. Please review!


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